We took an unexpected, but very welcome, few days off to clear our brains of all of the stuff that had been clogging our minds since the end of March. While we were lying on the beach, the world continued around us as normal:
- In Lisbon, there were gunfights on the streets of Quinta da Fonte, between the gypsy community and the black community. Sparked by an event the previous evening, gypsies (ciganos) and the immigrant black community too to the streets, shooting at each other. The police were swiftly on the scene, although the main perpetrators escaped. The cigaanos started to leave the area, apparently in fear of their lives, and have been camping outside the town hall ever since, refusing to go back.
Not content with cutting flights because of increasing fuel costs, TAP, the Portuguese national airline, are now multitasking their cabin staff.
- When a TAP flight between Guinea Bissau and Lisbon experienced engine problems, the pilot wasted no time in rolling up his shirt sleeves and climbing onto the engine to fix the problem. Watched by admiring ground crews, the unidentified pilot fixed the engine starter, before taking off for Lisbon, only four hours late. The representative of the air mechanics union, the Sindicato dos Trabalhadores de Aviação e Aeroporto (SITAVA), was not surprised, “the pilot’s are equipped to do many things that don’t put the plane at risk… sometimes if they don’t have a screwdriver, they just use a 5c piece.”
- As you heard here first (probably), Carlos Queirros agreed to manage the Portuguese national team until 2012 for an annual salary of €1,5 million. Queirros was the first and, according to the FPF, the only candidate to replace Luis Felipe Scolari.
- In a country which is becoming increasingly polarised in terms of who has money and who doesn’t, criminals have been stealing ATM machines from outside shopping centres and banks. In Loures, an ATM machine was stolen from the lobby of the city courthouse. Apparently the security cameras weren’t working, leaving the criminals with a clean getaway.
- Farmers were protesting about the high price of fuel, while at the same time the taxi drivers were increasing their fares because of… the high price of fuel. Convoys of tractors poured through Lisbon causing traffic mayhem, and ironically giving the taxi drivers an entra bonus as they and their fares sat in traffic jams with the meter running.
- The iPhone went on sale in Portugal, amid much fanfare in Lisbon. Celebrities and new adopters all turned out at the Vodafone store to be the first to get their hands on one. While prices have been falling all over Europe, the prices in Portugal were pretty steep. Pre-paid iPhone’s were available for 499,90€ and 599,90€, for the 8Gb and 16Gb versions, respectively. Monthly payment options, including 500 free minutes and texts, were also available starting at 65€ for the price plan and 125€ for the iPhone.
However, bearing in mind that the average monthly salary in Portugal is 800€, and most people are paid little above the minimum wage of 426€, take up of such an expensive item may be limited. Already prices across Europe are coming down, and although mobile phone companies in Portugal are notoriously greedy, it surely won’t be too long before they follow. My suggestion is to hold out for a couple of months.
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